He was just opening his mouth to answer, when he saw Mac’s Tahoe pull up in front of the door. “Sorry, babe. I’ve got to run,” he said, pointing to where Gage was now on the sidewalk, flagging him. “We’ve got a meeting across town. If I don’t see you today, though, I’ll stop by when I get in this evening.” Not wanting to risk getting stiff-armed on the kiss again, he rubbed her shoulder briefly before hurrying toward the door.
Gage was still standing on the sidewalk, so Dominic stepped around him and slid into the front passenger seat before motioning the other man to the back. As they pulled away, Gage leaned between the seats, saying, “I thought we talked about the space issue. It looks like you practically pounced on the woman as soon as she walked in the door. I mean, I know you blew it last night with your whole stalking routine, but it’s not too late to reclaim a piece of your manhood.”
“No doubt,” Mac began idly, “I’m gonna hate myself for asking, but what in the hell are you two talking about?”
Before he could answer, Gage jumped in. “I’ve been helping him out with Gwen. She was all freaked out because our boy here was stuck to her like a second skin. She was beginning to push him away, and I told him to step back and give her some space. Like, be the man and ignore her. I mean that’s second nature to most of us born with a penis. Well, actually, I’m questioning even that on Dom because he lost all of his manliness by crying over a girlie movie that he insisted on watching with Gwen last week. The poor girl took off without telling him a few days later. Hell, she probably drove to the nearest truck stop just to feel the testosterone again. Then she comes home last night and he’s standing outside her apartment door, trying to look through the peephole. He’d already banged on her neighbor’s door to find out where she was.”
Dominic frowned as Mac looked at him with a mixture of pity and surprise. “Bro, is that true? I mean, I can overlook the stalking thing because I’ve probably been guilty of that with Ava, but what’s this about crying during a movie? Don’t you know if you feel that coming on, you get up and go to the bathroom? That’s usually the one place women won’t follow you.”
“I didn’t cry!” Dominic snapped. “I just pointed out that Jane Fonda was trying to kill her soon-to-be daughter-in-law and that the girl should jump ship before she had to put up with that for life.”
Wrinkling his nose in confusion, Mac asked, “Are you talking about Ted Turner’s ex? What’s the movie got to do with her?”
“Thank you!” Gage crowed.
“Fuck you both.” Dominic glared at his friends. “I might have embarrassed myself slightly by making a few comments during the movie, but I wasn’t even remotely close to crying like asshat here is trying to insinuate.”
Mac chuckled for a minute before saying, “All right, I’m gonna let that part go for now. But I have to ask you, man, why in the world would you be taking relationship advice from speedy dick back there? His idea of a long-term commitment is buying the woman dinner first.”
“Hey!” Gage protested. “I’ve had girlfriends before. I mean, come on, I’ve dated way more than either of you have so don’t you think I probably know more about women?”
“Relationships?” Mac laughed. “Have you ever gone out with a woman without sleeping with her? And if that miracle actually happened, did you ever attempt to see her again or did you go ahead and delete her from your phone?”
Dominic turned in his seat to find Gage once again looking around nervously as he had in the office earlier. “Of course, I have,” Gage snorted. “I’m just not sitting around crying over my feelings all of the time like you two.”
“We’re not talking high school here,” Dominic added. “We’ve been friends for over ten years now, and I’ve never known you to actually date anyone. You seem to have an unlimited supply of women more than ready to sleep with you, though, which is completely baffling to me.”
“Why are you busting my balls?” Gage huffed. “Unless you’ve forgotten, we all spent eight years surrounded by mostly men. None of us were exactly doing much dating back then. And Mac might have finally snagged a woman and gotten married, but Dom, you’re not doing too hot in that area. Plus, I don’t recall a single long-term relationship that you’ve been involved in—your mother and sister don’t count, by the way.”
“You’re right.” Dominic seemed to surprise Gage when he agreed. “I had girlfriends at times before I joined the military, but like you said, that doesn’t happen too much while you’re enlisted. Gwen is a completely new thing for me, which I knew she would be. Being married to Uncle Sam was all of our lives for too long. Hell, I hate to admit it, but I’m afraid I’m screwing up with her because I’ve been out of the dating game for too long.”
“You’ve dated since we got out,” Mac added. “Why the sudden panic over a woman?”
Dominic ran a hand over his head in frustration. “Because I’m in love with her and it has me second-guessing everything I’ve ever known.”
“But you’ve only been going out a few weeks,” Mac choked out. “That’s pretty fast, bro. Are you sure it’s not just something of the physical nature? We all spent a lot of time without a woman in our lives—well, other than . . .”
“One-blow wonders?” Gage added from the backseat.